Kennedy becomes fourth president to be assassinated - Nov 22, 1963 - HISTORY.com Kennedy becomes fourth president to be assassinated Share this: Kennedy becomes fourth president to be assassinated Author Kennedy becomes fourth president to be assassinated URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1963, the nation is shocked by the assassination of its president, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was riding in an open car in Dallas, Texas, when a gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at him from an upper-level window of a nearby building. Kennedy was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Dallas hospital. He was the fourth president in U.S. history to be assassinated. A bystander named Abraham Zapruder happened to capture Kennedy’s shooting on his 8mm home-movie camera. Zapruder’s film provided graphic visuals of JFK’s death and has since been analyzed extensively for evidence of a potential conspiracy. Even decades later, some scholars, investigators and amateur sleuths continue to insist that Kennedy’s death was a coup d’etat committed by hard-line U.S. anti-communists who feared Kennedy would pull U.S.

advisors out of Vietnam and act “soft” on the communist threat from the USSR. Another conspiracy theory that involves a coordinated effort by organized crime, the Pentagon and the CIA to murder the president was explored by director Oliver Stone in his 1991 film JFK. In 1964, however, the federally appointed Warren Commission issued a report on the assassination and concluded that Oswald acted alone. A second investigation conducted in 1979 concluded that there may have been a second gunman, but it concurred with the first report that Oswald was the actual killer. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln became the first president to be assassinated when he was shot by a Confederate sympathizer while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. In 1881, James Garfield was shot by a disgruntled federal employee and lived 80 days before succumbing to his wounds. William McKinley was killed by an anarchist in 1901. Several other presidents have survived or narrowly avoided assassination attempts. Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest in 1981, but survived. Gerald Ford escaped two assassination attempts.

An attempt on Andrew Jackson’s life in 1835 was foiled when both of the gunman’s two pistols failed to discharge properly. Related Videos First president assassinated ever in the world. William Henry Harrison Abraham Lincoln. THE LONGEST LIST OF THE LONGEST STUFF AT THE LONGEST DOMAIN NAME AT LONG LAST Who was the first US president to be assassinated? Abraham Lincoln, right? Maybe... Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14 1865 and is considered the be the first US president to be assassinated, but... William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after only 31 days in office, but your friendly neighborhood conspiracy theorists believe he was murdered. One this is sure, William Henry Harrison was the first US president to die in office. William McKinley was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz in September 1901 to become the first US president to be assassinated in the 20th century. Probably the most famous assassination was that of John F. Kennedy on November 22 1963, in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald*. JFK was the first president assassinated with national TV coverage.

*Lee Harvey Oswald is credited with the assassination of JFK, but if we were to get into the conspiracy theory here this web page might become the world's longest web page. Page Sponsored By: Free Government Money List of U.S. Presidents Who Died In Office U.S. Presidents Who Died In Office Since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, and the inauguration of our first president in 1789, only 43 men have served as President of the United States , and Barack Obama became the newest president when he was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Obama is considered the 44th president, even though 43 have served. One president served twice in non-consecutive terms, and is therefore counted twice. Of those 43 presidents, eight have died while serving as president. Four of natural causes, and four through assassination. Below is list of those eight presidents who died in office. William Henry Harrison -The 9th President, who died in 1841 of pneumonia and pleurisy.

Zachary Taylor --The 12th President, who died in 1850 of bilious fever, typhoid fever, and cholera morbus, following a heat stroke. Abraham Lincoln--The 16th President, was assassinated in1865. Lincoln was the first of four presidents to be assassinated. James Garfield--The 20th President, who was assassinated in1881. William McKinley--The 25th President, who was assassinated 1901. Warren G. Harding --The 29th President, who died in1923 of a suspected heart attack Franklin Delano Roosevelt --The 32nd President, who died in 1945, of a cerebral hemorrhage John F. Kennedy -The 35th President, who was assassinated in1963. Abraham Lincoln | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln became the United States' 16th President in 1861, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy in 1863.

Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it." Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union. The Civil War had begun. The son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Lincoln had to struggle for a living and for learning. Five months before receiving his party's nomination for President, he sketched his life: "I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... My father ... removed from Kentucky to ...

Indiana, in my eighth year.... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all." Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest." He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause.

On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion. The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds....

" On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. Learn more about Abraham Lincoln 's spouse, Mary Todd Lincoln . U.S. presidential assassinations and attempts - Timelines - Los Angeles Times U.S. presidential assassinations and attempts By Los Angeles Times Staff Jan. 22, 2012 8:49 a.m. From Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, a look at presidential assassinations and failed attempts. January 30, 1835 Andrew Jackson (Handout) Richard Lawrence’s two bullets aimed at President Jackson misfired in Washington on Jan. 30, 1835. Lawrence was apprehended and later deemed insane and institutionalized.

April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln (Associated Press) President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending an evening performance at Ford’s Theatre in Washington with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. He died the next day. July 2, 1881 James A. Garfield (Library of Congress) President Garfield was only four months into his term when lawyer Charles J. Guiteau shot him. Garfield died on Sept. 19, 1881. Guiteau was tried and found guilty. He was hanged on June 30, 1882. September 6, 1901 William McKinley (Library of Congress) The 25th president, William McKinley, was visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., when he was shot twice by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. McKinley died on Sept. 14, 1901. Czolgosz was sentenced to death and electrocuted on Oct. 29, 1901. After McKinley’s death, the Secret Service officially took responsibility for protecting U.S. presidents.

October 13, 1912 Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt in 1915. (Associated Press) President Roosevelt was shot at while about to give a speech in Milwaukee. During his speech, Roosevelt said, “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” He survived the attack, and the bullet remained in his body until his death in 1919. The shooter, John F. Schrank, was found insane. February 15, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt (Associated Press) Though he had not been sworn into office yet, Roosevelt was shot at five times while at a speaking engagement in Miami. Bricklayer Giuseppe Zangara fired the shots wildly, wounding four and killing Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. Zangara was found guilty of murder and executed on March 20, 1933. November 1, 1950 Harry S. Truman (Associated Press) Two supporters of Puerto Rican independence, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, targeted President Truman when he was staying at a house in Washington while the White House was undergoing renovation.

The violent attempt resulted in the death of a White House police officer and Torresola. Collazo was sentenced to life in prison. Truman was unharmed. November 22, 1963 Richard Nixon (YouTube) Samuel Byck, an unemployed former tire salesman, tried to hijack a plane out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport to crash it into the White House, but his plans were foiled. He shot the pilot and co-pilot and eventually shot himself. Sean Penn starred in a dramatization of the events in the 2004 film “The Assassination of Richard Nixon.” September 5, 1975 Gerald Ford (AFP) President Ford survived two assassination attempts in the same month. On Sept. 5, 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, fired a pistol at the president in a crowd in Sacramento, but Ford was unharmed. On Sept. 22, Sara Jane Moore pulled a revolver on Ford in San Francisco. Both were sentenced to life in prison.

May 5, 1979 Jimmy Carter (Associated Press) President Carter was about to give a speech in Los Angeles when Secret Service agents detained Raymond Lee Harvey, who authorities said had a starter pistol with blank rounds in his pockets. March 30, 1981 Ronald Reagan John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded President Reagan and three others outside a hotel in Washington. Hinckley said his motivation was to show his feelings for actress Jodie Foster. He was found insane and committed to a mental hospital. He is seeking more time outside the facility. George H.W. Bush (Associated Press) President George H.W. Bush was not in office when 16 men plotted to kill him with a car bomb while he was at a speaking engagement at Kuwait University. Kuwaiti officials found the bomb and arrested the would-be assassins. November 1996 Bill Clinton President Clinton escaped a bombing attempt in November 1996 while visiting the Philippines for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The Secret Service was able to divert his motorcade. It was later revealed that terrorist Osama bin Laden was behind the plot. February 7, 2001 George W.

Bush (AFP) Robert Pickett, an accountant from Evanston, Ind., shot at the White House when the president was inside. President Bush was unharmed. A Secret Service officer shot Pickett, who was later sentenced to three years in prison. November 11, 2011 Barack Obama Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was arrested and charged with the attempted assassination of President Obama near the National Mall. Obama was not at the White House at the time. The Idaho man, still detained, said he believed Obama was “the devil” and had to be “taken care of.” 10 Forgotten Attempted Assassinations Of US Presidents - Listverse 10 Forgotten Attempted Assassinations Of US Presidents Jake Vigliotti March 27, 2014 You know all about the successful assassinations of US presidents. In fact, you probably know too much about the conspiracy and conjecture surrounding John F. Kennedy’s demise. You may even know about some attempted assassinations, but there have been many more credible attempts to claim the lives of the “leaders of the Free World” than you ever imagined. 10John F.

Kennedy Was Almost Shot Weeks Before His Assassination As we recently told you over at KnowledgeNuts , Richard Pavlick attempted to blow up President-elect John F. Kennedy in December 1960. Kennedy was lucky that Pavlick had a change of heart at the last second, but that was just the first attempt on his life. There were two other viable attempts before that fateful Dallas afternoon, and both took place, amazingly, in the same city on the same afternoon. President Kennedy scheduled a trip to Chicago on November 2, 1963. The Windy City stop had a two-fold purpose—to hold a political meeting with the influential Mayor Richard Daley and watch the Army-Navy football game at Soldier Field. According to former Secret Serviceman Abraham Bolden, a group of four Cuban exiles , led by Homer Echevarria, plotted to assassinate Kennedy in Chicago. Echevarria and his team planned to fire automatic weapons at the Kennedy motorcade as it maneuvered around a turn at Jackson Street from what was then the Northwest Expressway.

(It has since been renamed the Kennedy Expressway.) A local landlady reported to police on October 31 that four men in one of her rooms had automatic weapons. Surveillance trailed the men, and after a poor driving decision by a Secret Service agent, their cover was blown. Two of the four men were detained, but a search of the boarding room revealed no weapons, so the two were released—and never seen again. With that crisis averted, the Secret Service immediately found another on their hands. At that very same intersection, a paranoid former Marine named Thomas Vallee was planning his own attempt . Vallee was a member of the far-right John Birch Society and had very strong negative opinions about Kennedy. Acting on a tip, the Secret Service observed that Vallee had high-powered weapons and 2,500 rounds of ammo at his hotel room. On November 2, the same day as Kennedy’s scheduled appearance, police trailed Vallee as he headed toward the spot where Kennedy would make the slow turn on Jackson, and they pulled Vallee over when he failed to signal at a turn. A knife on the front seat and 750 rounds of ammo in the trunk were enough to detain Vallee.

Kennedy never made the trip to Chicago. That same day in Vietnam, President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated , and Kennedy canceled his appearance. Conspiracy buffs find it convenient that it was the assassination in Vietnam, not the threat in Chicago, that terminated the trip. As if Kennedy conspiracy aficionados need more ammo, there is a school of thought that Vallee was a patsy framed by the four Cubans. The information that led to their discovery came from an informer, and the only information about him is his name: “Lee.” At least one person close to the plot is a believer: Vallee’s sister, Mary Vallee-Portillo. She thinks that Vallee, who died in 1988 , was “set up” for the JFK assassination attempt in Chicago. Like Lee Harvey Oswald, Vallee was a Marine, and he was stationed at the same U-2 base in Japan at the same time as the Dallas shooter. Of course, that’s all just a coincidence—probably.

9Harry Truman Received A Letter Bomb In a well-publicized attack , a pair of Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman in 1950, but another set of nationalists attempted to end Truman’s presidency in his first term. In 1947, Zionist militants were in open battle with British troops. The most menacing of the militant groups was the Stern Group , whose activities looked exactly like those of today’s terrorists. At the time, it appeared that prospects for a future state of Israel—the long-held dream of a Jewish homeland—were bleak. The Stern Group would stop at nothing to achieve their goal. President Truman was quite sympathetic to the Israeli cause, but that didn’t deter the Stern Group from attacking him in the form of a letter. Police were tipped off to the possibility of a letter bomb because of a similar attempt on a British politician. Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, received a letter that contained an envelope filled with powdered gelignite, a pencil battery, and a detonator. Police determined that the blast resulting from such a combination would be powerful enough to kill a man. Sure enough, the letter Truman received was a similar type of letter bomb.

Ironically, the US became the first country to formally recognize Israel in spite of this attack. 8Osama bin Laden Almost Got Bill Clinton Osama bin Laden didn’t become a household name until September 11, 2001, but prior to that, he was known in government circles as a major troublemaker. Terrorists had previously attacked the World Trade Center on President Bill Clinton’s watch in 1993, so the presidential detail was on heightened alert when abroad. Bin Laden wasn’t in on that attack, but he had other plans for Clinton. In 1996, President Clinton was in the Philippines as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Clinton arranged a visit to a local politician, traveling a route that would take him over a bridge. Just prior to the trip, though, a Secret Service agent picked up an odd transmission in his earpiece. He repeatedly heard the words “bridge” and “wedding” and determined those to be code words for “blow up the bridge when the President is on it.” Clinton’s motorcade was quickly rerouted and no harm fell upon him.

The Clinton White House never revealed the assassination attempt, so news outlets didn’t pick up the story until 2009. Al-Qaeda had admitted to assassination attempts on Clinton in the past, but it wasn’t until this story emerged that it was revealed how perilously close they came to success. Even when the Clinton Administration attacked Afghanistan in an attempt to eliminate bin Laden in 1998, they never mentioned the 1996 assassination attempt as a motivation. 7Hoover’s Term Almost Ended Before It Began Herbert Hoover isn’t recalled fondly as a president. He had the misfortune of holding office during the 1929 stock market crash, and everything he tried to do to contain the damage only made it worse. But as a candidate, he was very popular, winning quite handily over Al Smith. Hoover decided to parlay that popularity into a trip abroad prior to taking his oath of office. In December 1928, President-elect Hoover traveled to Central and South America to promote his plan for a trade partnership with the region.

While in Argentina, a known anarchist named Manuel Scarzo was detained after a search of his home found guns, bombs, and—most incriminating—a rail map with Hoover’s path highlighted in red. Scarzo allegedly got the train route from Hoover’s own itinerary , which had been leaked. No one is sure how close Hoover came to death. Clearly, given the details the anarchist possessed, it could have ended poorly for the president-elect. Hoover downplayed the incident, including tearing the newspaper article about it out of his newspaper so his wife wouldn’t see it and become upset. 6George W. Bush Almost Caught A Grenade In Georgia Let’s face it—George W. Bush wasn’t an extremely popular president. A 2006 movie revolved around a fanciful fictional assassination of the president in Chicago, but Bush actually did have a very close encounter in the Eurasian country of Georgia. In 2005, Bush was giving a speech in a crowded square in Tiblisi, Georgia. Suddenly, an object wrapped in a handkerchief came flying through the air. The threat wasn’t immediately known, but it turned out to be a live grenade .

Initial reports downplayed the incident, but the grenade landed less than 30 meters (100 ft) from the president and was very capable of harming him. Had the handkerchief not been so tightly wound around the grenade, it likely would have detonated. Vladimer Arutiniani admitted to throwing the grenade and was arrested. He received a life sentence for his attempt. Arutiniani explained that he aimed high to launch shrapnel over the bulletproof glass protecting Bush as he spoke, and had the grenade gone off, it’s likely he would have been successful. 5Lincoln’s Hat Was Shot Months Before He Was Everyone knows the ultimate fate of Abraham Lincoln, but he came very close to meeting his demise a bit earlier. President Lincoln and his family stayed at the Soldiers’ Home during the summer months to avoid the blistering heat at the White House. It was only about 6 kilometers (4 mi) away, and Lincoln often made the trip on horseback alone. One night in August 1864, just under a year before his assassination, Lincoln was traveling alone to the Soldiers’ Home at around 11:00 PM when a shot rang out . Private John W.

Nichols, who was stationed at the Soldier’s Home, rushed to the aid of the president, whom he found sans hat. Lincoln explained that the horse jerked upon hearing the gunshot, and his hat went flying. When Nichols found the hat, he noticed it now featured a brand-new bullet hole. The President had narrowly missed being shot in the head. Lincoln requested the matter be kept quiet, and it was—Nichols didn’t tell his story until 1867. Many have speculated that Lincoln’s famous hat spoiled the assassin’s aim and saved his life. The death of Lincoln even that much earlier would have had devastating consequences for America. Hannibal Hamlin would have become president, and a lame duck one at that. Hamlin was already off the Union ticket for vice president, having been replaced by Andrew Johnson. Hamlin would have faced strong opposition, because at the time, the Radical Democracy Party—an offshoot of the Republicans—and their nominee, John Fremont, had not yet dropped from the race. Despite what Steven Spielberg told us in his movie Lincoln, the Radical Democracy Party were more strongly opposed to slavery than Lincoln, which led to their formation.

Had the assassin aimed a bit lower in 1864, the election in November would likely have pitted Hamlin against Fremont and McClellan (the Democratic nominee), with Johnson perhaps running on the Union ticket. America in 1864 would have been a mess. 4Reagan’s Would-Be Assassin Targeted Jimmy Carter John Hinckley Jr. was clearly insane. In a bizarre bid for the heart of actress Jodie Foster , Hinckley infamously shot Ronald Reagan early in his first term, but what is glossed over is that Hinckley didn’t really care which president he killed—he just wanted a president. Hinckley’s plans were pretty out there. One plan was to hijack an airplane, fly it to the White House, and live there with Foster . He came to his senses, such as they were, and settled for a presidential assassination. Hinckley began stalking Jimmy Carter when he was on the campaign trail, and he actually came very close to Carter—within 2 meters (6 ft) during a stop in Dayton, Ohio on October 2, 1980, roughly one month before the election.

Hinckley is widely reported to have not carried a gun that day, but he was detained later that month in Nashville, Tennessee with three handguns in his carry-on luggage. Carter was in Nashville at the time of his arrest. With no criminal record, he paid a small fine and journeyed on to Dallas, Texas. It was there that he purchased the gun that shot Reagan. Did Hinckley really not have a gun with him in Dayton? Or did he just change his mind? Hinckley has never clarified that, but what is clear is that he was within spitting distance of a president and the president survived. 3Barack Obama, Ricin, And The Elvis Impersonator The day after the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon , a suspicious package arrived at the US Capitol mail offices. The day after that, on April 17, 2013, a similar letter addressed to President Barack Obama was intercepted at the White House mail facility. Both contained ricin. The story that follows is so unbelievable that it just has to be true. The two letters—and another that was addressed to Mississippi judge Sadie Holland—all had the same message: “No one wanted to listen to me before.

There are still ‘Missing Pieces.’ Maybe I have your attention now even if that means someone must die. This must stop. To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance. I am KC and I approve this message.” A quick Internet search revealed that Elvis impersonator Kevin Curtis used similar phrasing in a one-sided online war against his former employer, North Mississippi Medical Center. After seven hours of questioning, however, the Secret Service began to doubt Curtis was the ricin maker. When asked about the powerful toxin, Curtis replied , “I don’t like rice. I don’t really eat rice. If y’all look in my house, you won’t find any rice.” When asked if he had any enemies, he named Everett Dutschke. Indeed, Dutschke hated Curtis so much that he had tried to frame the man for killing the president of the United States. Curtis and Dutschke harbored a deep hatred for each other. Curtis said the feud stemmed from Dutschke’s refusal to run an item in his online newspaper, while Dutschke claims that Curtis cyberstalked him after his crushing Mississippi State House election loss. The two battled for six years online and through mutual friends.

Dutschke was vainglorious, bragging incessantly about his Mensa membership. He thought he could outsmart anyone. Dutschke mailed the three letters, having included the judge because she was the mother of his political opponent in his failed legislature bid, and framed his bitter rival. He initially pleaded not guilty, but he changed his mind later and entered a guilty plea . His Mensa membership turned out to be less helpful than he might have thought, at least when it came to chemistry: Judge Holland opened her letter and inhaled some of the ricin, but Dutschke had mixed the ricin so poorly that it wasn’t strong enough to kill the 80-year-old judge. 2George Wallace’s Would-Be Assassin Targeted Richard Nixon The better-known attempt on the life of Richard Nixon was by Samuel Byck. He attempted to hijack a plane and fly it into the White House, a plot that eventually formed the basis of a movie starring Sean Penn. Arthur Bremer, on the other hand, is best recalled for his attempted assassination of presidential hopeful George Wallace in 1972. His initial target was a bigger fish, though—the sitting president.

Bremer kept a poorly written journal of his thoughts, where he revealed that his number one target was President Nixon. Nixon was a more desirable target to the loner, who greatly desired to become infamous. Wallace was much more accessible, though, so Bremer decided he would be his fallback target if he failed to access Nixon. On April 3, 1972, Bremer put his master plan into action. First, he rented a car to drive to Ottawa, Canada, where he intended to hire a prostitute and lose his virginity. While in Ottawa, he planned to assassinate Nixon, who was there speaking to Canadians. His plan failed spectacularly—he didn’t lose his virginity, and he didn’t even get close to Nixon, who was constantly surrounded by security guards. In fact, the closest he came to shooting anyone was himself in his hotel room when the gun accidentally discharged. Ten days later, he switched his target to Wallace. After noting the vast difference between the security details on his two intended targets, Bremer followed Wallace around the country briefly before pulling the trigger in May 1972 in Maryland. Wallace survived the attack but was left paralyzed.

All Bremer wanted was media attention, yet his assassination attempt on Wallace is merely a footnote to history, and his Nixon escapades are virtually unknown. If you’re breathing a sigh of relief that a guy that warped is safely behind bars, we have bad news—he was freed in 2007. As of 2012, he was living in western Maryland and remains on parole until 2025. 1James Buchanan Was Poisoned On His Inauguration Day James Buchanan is recalled for being a bachelor president, the guy before Lincoln, and a hopeless failure. His election was seen at the time as a means of keeping the Union intact, as he was a Northerner with Southern leanings. That was enough to persuade some people that America would be better off if he didn’t serve. His inauguration was March 4, 1857. Buchanan and most of his party were staying at the National Hotel in Washington, D.C., which was one of the finest hotels in the country at the time. On the evening of March 3, hundreds of patrons became sick . Buchanan was one of the lucky ones and recovered fairly quickly.

Not quite so lucky were two sitting member of the US House of Representatives, John G. Montgomery and John Quitman, who ended up dead. Over 30 people died from dysentery related to the National Hotel incident. The prevailing modern viewpoint is that the primitive sewer system led to the illness, but not everyone is convinced that it wasn’t a plot to take out President Buchanan. There is evidence that the disease was already spreading in the hotel prior to Buchanan’s arrival, but it certainly spiked when he showed up. The hotel was infamous as a hangout for Southern sympathizers, and even John Wilkes Booth stayed there in 1864 while plotting his Lincoln assassination. The poisoning plot was no conspiracy theory—outlets as respectable as The New York Times called it “the most gigantic and startling crime of the age,” while future Secretary of State William Seward insisted that physicians called it a poisoning . Was it poor plumbing or poison? It’s impossible to say, but people at the time certainly thought the latter. It’s worth noting that, had Buchanan died, Vice President and strong Southern supporter John C. Breckinridge would have become president. Breckinridge, interestingly, wasn’t staying at the National Hotel that night.

Jake wrote a trivia ebook filled with the same kind of crazy stuff you just read in this list. You can follow him on Twitter for more useless facts. More Great Lists US Presidential Assassinations and Assassination Attempts By Martin Kelly Updated July 25, 2016. In the history of the US presidency, four presidents have actually died from assassination. Another six were the subject of assassination attempts. Following is a description of each assassination and attempt that has occurred since the founding of the nation. Assassinations Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln was shot in the head while watching a play on April 14, 1865. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth escaped and was later shot and killed. Conspirators who helped plan Lincoln's assassination were found guilty and hung. Lincoln died on April 15, 1865. James Garfield - Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally disturbed government office seeker, shot Garfield on July 2 , 1881. The president did not die until September 19th of blood poisoning. This was related more to the manner in which the physicians attended to the president than to the wounds themselves.

Guiteau was convicted of murder and hanged on June 30, 1882. William McKinley - McKinley was shot two times by anarchist Leon Czolgosz while the president was visiting the Pan-American Exhibit in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901. continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States He died on September 14, 1901. Czolgosz stated that he shot McKinley because he was an enemy of working people. He was convicted of the murder and electrocuted on October 29, 1901. John F. Kennedy - On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was mortally wounded while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. His apparent assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald , was killed by Jack Ruby before standing trial. The Warren Commission was called to investigate Kennedy's death and found that Oswald had acted alone to kill Kennedy. Many argued, however, that there was more than one gunman, a theory upheld by a 1979 House Committee investigation . The FBI and a 1982 study disagreed.

Speculation continues to this day. Assassination Attempts Andrew Jackson - On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson was attending a funeral for Congressman Warren Davis. Richard Lawrence attempted to shoot him with two different derringers, each of which misfired. Jackson was incensed and attacked Lawrence with his walking stick. Lawrence was tried for the attempted assassination but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum. Theodore Roosevelt - An assassination attempt was actually not made on Roosevelt's life while he was in the office of president. Instead, it occurred after he had left office and decided to run for another term against William Howard Taft . While campaigning on October 14, 1912, he was shot in the chest by John Schrank, a mentally disturbed New York saloon keeper. Luckily, Roosevelt had a speech and his spectacle case in his pocket that slowed down the .38 caliber bullet. The bullet was never removed but allowed to heal over. Roosevelt continued with his speech before seeing a doctor.

Franklin Roosevelt - After giving a speech in Miami on February 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara shot six shots into the crowd. None hit Roosevelt though the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, was shot in the stomach. Zangara blamed wealthy capitalists for his plights and those of other working people. He was convicted of attempted murder and then after Cermak's death due to the shooting he was retried for murder. He was executed by electric chair in March, 1933. Harry Truman - On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationals attempted to kill President Truman to bring attention to the case for Puerto Rican independence. The President and his family were staying at the Blair House across from the White House and the two attempted assassins, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, tried to shoot their way into the house. Torresola killed one and wounded another policeman while Collazo wounded one policeman. Torresola died in the gunfight. Collazo was arrested and sentenced to death which Truman commuted to life in prison. President Jimmy Carter freed Collazo from prison in 1979.

Gerald Ford - Ford escaped two assassination attempts, both by women. First on September 5, 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson , pointed a gun at him but did not fire. She was convicted of attempting to assassinate the president and sentenced to life in prison. The second attempt on Ford's life occurred on September 22, 1975 when Sara Jane Moore fired one shot that was deflected by a bystander. Moore was trying to prove herself to some radical friends with the assassination of the president. She was convicted of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in prison. Ronald Reagan - On March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot in the lung by John Hin c kley , Jr. Hinckley hoped that by assassinating the president, he would earn enough notoriety to impress Jodie Foster. He also shot Press Secretary James Brady along with an officer and a security agent. He was arrested but found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was sentenced to life in a mental institution.

One fascinating sidenote to presidential assassinations and deaths in office is Tecumseh's Curse whereby presidents starting with William Henry Harrison who were elected in a year ending with a zero were assassinated or died while in office. The curse ended with Ronald Reagan . Read this article to learn more about the history of the curse.

Question: Who was the first US president to be assassinated?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln